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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28210440">Burning the Midnight Webs</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sally0/pseuds/Sally0'>Sally0</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action, Canada, Canadian food, Cops, Coyotes, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Iron Dad, Movie Sets, Parental Tony Stark, Peter and Tony in Canada, Peter messes up, Tony Helps Out, Trains, Vancouver, bears (maybe), nanaimo bars, near misses, peter forgets to use dissolving web-fluid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:42:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28210440</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sally0/pseuds/Sally0</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has moved to Vancouver for a summer job at Stark Industries’ Canadian office. He’s been here a few weeks now, and is feeling a little unsettled. He’s having trouble getting into his routine as Spider-Man in a new city (and country), and hasn’t really felt like taking the time to get to know much about the city.</p><p>But a visit from Tony, followed by a long night of adventures, near-misses, and a few scary encounters around the city as the two of them work to clean up the non-dissolving webs that Peter accidentally left behind during his patrol, turns out to be just what he needs to lift his spirits.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Avengers Up North, Irondad Fic Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Burning the Midnight Webs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiecasyl/gifts">cassiecasyl</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Happy fic exchange, Cassiecasyl! I went with your third prompt, Peter forgetting to add dissolvent to his web fluid and having to retrace his steps around town after his patrol. SUCH a hilarious and unique idea lol!</p><p>I must admit, this fic is a teeny bit self indulgent. I moved to Vancouver last year and it took a while for it to feel like home, and I still have trouble finding my way around, so I thought, why not deal with my feelings about that by giving Peter the same problems 😂. I hope you enjoy this, it was an amazing prompt and fun to write!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Peter is just wrapping up his work for the day in the small office he shares with the other summer students, when his phone rings. It’s Tony, who is coming to town today on business and is going to pick Peter up so they can go to dinner.</p><p>He’ll be the first familiar face Peter has seen in the three weeks since he’s moved to Vancouver for his summer job at Stark Industries’ Canadian office, and he can’t <em> wait. </em></p><p>“Hey, Mr. Stark,” he answers, trying to keep too much excitement out of his voice.</p><p>“Hey, kid.”</p><p>“Where are you? Almost here?” Peter asks, definitely failing not to sound too eager.</p><p>“Just landed. We were a little late taking off, because of…airspace issues in New York. New suit prototype. It’s a long story. Anyway, I’m going to be a little late picking you up from work now. Do you mind waiting for me at the office and going for a late dinner? Unless you want to just meet at the restaurant.”</p><p>“Sure, meeting at the restaurant works.” says Peter. “Where is it?”</p><p>“It’s in Olympic Village.”</p><p>“It’s <em> where? </em>” asks Peter with a frown. “They’ve set up an Olympic Village here? But the Olympics aren’t even in Vancouver this year. Are they?”</p><p>Seriously, how did he miss that? Well, it probably makes sense, he supposes; in the few weeks he’s been here, he hasn’t done much except go to work and come home. He hasn’t even gone on patrol yet. He’s been meaning to, but just hasn’t felt like it. And hasn’t wanted to think too hard about why. &lt;</p><p>Tony laughs. “No, it’s just the name of a neighbourhood, like Greenwich Village or Hell’s Kitchen in New York. You haven’t been there yet? You need to get out more, kid. They’re not working you too hard, are they? Overtime’s not allowed for summer students.”</p><p>“No, no, it’s not that, it’s—” He cuts himself off, not sure how to finish the sentence. “Nothing. What’s the address?”</p><p>“I’m sending it to your phone,” says Tony, and Peter’s phone buzzes just then from a text. “I should make it there by six,” Tony adds. “Sound good?”</p><p>“Sure, see you then.” Peter hangs up and sends a couple more emails before packing up his things and heading out to catch the skytrain, using his phone to guide him to the station.</p><p>He steps off the train in Olympic Village and pulls out his phone again to check his map for directions to the brew-pub. Looks like he’ll be a few minutes early.</p><p>He ends up taking two wrong turns, despite following the map on his phone, and arrives about ten minutes late. Tony is already in the crowded restaurant, having somehow managed to snag the one table in the place that has cushy armchairs around it instead of regular seats, situated in a far corner near the fireplace. Peter suspects it’s because the manager recognized him. (Tony is almost as well known in Canada as he is in the States.)</p><p>Tony stands up as Peter approaches and they share a hug. Peter has a hard time letting go, but manages to before it gets awkward. He knew he missed Tony, but he didn’t realize just how much until this minute.</p><p>“How was your flight?” he asks as they each settle into a comfortable chair.</p><p>“Same as always,” Tony says with a shrug. “The flying experience doesn’t change much when it’s the same private jet every time.” He takes a sip of beer. “Have any trouble finding the place?”</p><p>“No. Well, I did take one or two wrong turns.”</p><p>“The streets in Olympic Village are literally numbered, kid.”</p><p>“I know,” Peter says, “but this <em> is </em> the first time I’ve ever lived outside of New York.”</p><p>“True,” Tony concedes. “How are you liking Vancouver so far, anyway? You haven’t said much about it in our phone calls.”</p><p>“It’s pretty cool,” says Peter as enthusiastically as he can.</p><p>It’s not exactly a lie. He does like the city. It’s beautiful, and green, and the view of the mountains to the north is spectacular. His job is amazing, too. He’s working on one of the most cutting-edge machine learning teams in the world, and it’s going to give him a huge head-start on his coursework before he even starts at MIT this Fall. </p><p>But as great as everything is here, for some reason, he’s just not…<em> feeling </em> it.</p><p>The waitress comes by to take their orders. Tony waits until she’s out of earshot before asking Peter about Spider-Man.</p><p>“What are the bad guys like here compared to New York?” He grins. “Do they all say ‘sorry’ when you catch them?”</p><p>Peter can’t help but laugh at that. That <em> would </em> be pretty funny. But now that they’re on the topic, he can’t avoid telling Tony the truth.</p><p>“Actually…I haven’t gone out on patrol yet.”</p><p>Tony’s eyebrows raise. “In three weeks?” He narrows his eyes at Peter. “And they’re definitely not making you do overtime? I promise, kid, if they are, I can take care of it and they won’t know it was you who blabbed. Pepper takes SI’s labour law compliance <em> very </em> seriously.”</p><p>“No, I promise, they aren’t making me do overtime.” Peter looks away from Tony’s eyes and takes a sip of his soda.</p><p>“Then what is it?” Tony’s tone is gentler now, like he knows something’s up.</p><p>Peter shrugs. “I guess it’s just—I don’t know Vancouver very well yet. I feel like I should learn the streets better before I go out on patrol. Learn where crimes are likely to happen, not have to ask Karen for directions to every single place. Spider-Man would look pretty stupid if he kept getting lost on patrol,” he finishes with a laugh in an attempt to lighten the mood.</p><p>Tony smiles at that too and takes another sip of beer. “You know what you should do? Turn off your suit’s GPS before you go on patrol.”</p><p>Peter frowns. “Won’t I just get lost faster?”</p><p>“No, it’ll force you to pay attention to where you’re going and learn the names of the streets much more quickly. It’s a great way to find your way around without help. Works like a charm.”</p><p>Peter laughs. “I can’t believe Tony Stark is telling someone <em> not </em> to use tech to accomplish something.”</p><p>Tony scoffs. “Believe it or not, I didn’t always have an AI to help me out with this stuff. I lived here for a year in ninety-three when I was getting this office set up, and I didn’t have a GPS then. I still know all the street names like the back of my hand.”</p><p>Their food comes then, and they spend the rest of the meal talking about AI and machine learning, and Peter fills him in on the parts of his project he hasn’t had a chance to mention yet during their phone calls.</p><p>After their meal, Tony drives him home. He pulls over outside Peter’s apartment building and turns to look at him.</p><p>“I hope you didn’t think I was pressuring you at dinner,” he begins. “Being in a new city twenty-five hundred miles away is gonna take some getting used to. There’s no rush to go on patrol. You don’t even have to go at all while you’re here if you don’t want to. You can just enjoy your downtime like a normal summer student.”</p><p>Peter can tell that Tony wants to say more, but is holding back from asking outright what’s wrong. He’s kind of grateful for that. He smiles to show Tony that everything’s alright.</p><p>“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” he says. “I’m sure I’ll go soon.”</p><p>Tony smiles back. “Well, I’m here all week. I’ve got dinner plans with the regional director tomorrow, but I’ll stop by your office after my meetings. And I’m free all weekend. I can show you around town a bit, help you get your bearings.”</p><p>“That sounds nice,” says Peter truthfully.</p><p>They say their goodbyes and Peter heads up to his apartment. When he gets in the door, he stands in his front hall for a minute without moving, and thinks about what Tony said in the car.</p><p>Suddenly he makes a decision. It’s really about time he does a patrol here. It won’t be quite like New York, but he’ll have to get used to that. He’s starting at MIT in the fall, so it’s not like he’s going to be going back to New York for long when his summer job is over. Boston is going to be his new home. His stomach lurches a bit at that, but he shakes off the feeling and gets to work.</p><p>He quickly whips up a batch of web fluid, loads his shooters, packs some spare shooters and web fluid ingredients into a backpack, and heads out for his very first friendly Canadian neighbourhood patrol.</p><hr/><p>His patrol goes wonderfully; much better than he thought it would when he was procrastinating about it these past three weeks.</p><p>At the last minute, he decides to take Tony’s advice and turn off his GPS so he has to go by memory and his wits to find his way around town. It’s not perfect—at one point, he finds himself in the west end when he was sure he’d been heading toward Gastown, and another time, he suddenly realizes he’s on Granville Island despite not having crossed any water or bridges to get there—but overall, he’s pretty satisfied.</p><p>In total, he’s webbed up three muggers, two car thieves, a big group of men having a brawl in a parking lot, and a guy trying to break into a JJ Bean café. He also saved two cats from trees, to the absolute delight of their owners, who were thrilled to be meeting Spider-Man for the first time. Peter wasn’t even sure Canadians knew who Spider-Man was.</p><p>One of the highlights was when one of the would-be mugging victims that Peter helped, a nice old lady, bought him something called a Nanaimo bar at a late-night bakery on Robson St. It was absolutely delicious. He’ll definitely have to learn how to make these for Aunt May.</p><p>He reactivates his GPS so Karen can guide him back to Yaletown where he left his backpack. He’s about a block away from the alleyway when he passes the spot where he webbed up the first mugger of the evening. The mugger is gone, taken in by the VPD when Karen called them, but most of the webbing he used…it’s still there.</p><p>He stops and looks at it. That makes no sense. Peter designed his web fluid so it would dissolve two hours after being shot from his web shooters, and it’s been almost four hours.</p><p>Something’s not right.</p><p>Peter approaches the webbing, hoping he just has the time mixed up and that the problem isn’t what he suspects it is. The texture looks different to what he knows, and he knows that texture like the back of his hand. He touches a web. When he pulls his finger away, the web comes with it, as sticky as it was the moment he shot it.</p><p>Oh, no. Oh, <em> shit. </em></p><p>He must have forgotten to add the dissolvent in his hurry to make web fluid tonight! This is not good. Very very not good.</p><p>Not only are all the suspects he’s turned in to the cops going to have to pick off the webbing that’s stuck on them rather than let it dissolve by itself, but it also means that all the webbing he used tonight is still going to be there in the morning. And the morning after that. And…well, permanently. He knows this because in his early days of developing a web formula, he hadn’t thought to use dissolvent, and he’s pretty sure there’s still a sticky ball of his Mark 1 fluid somewhere in the back of his closet in New York that just never dissolved.</p><p>Shit. The last thing he wants to do is leave litter all over town after his very first patrol. What a great way to give Spider-Man (and by association, all the Avengers) a bad name in Canada.</p><p>He lets out a sigh. So much for turning in early tonight before work tomorrow.</p><p>“Karen?” he says. “Change of plans. I can’t go home yet. My web fluid isn’t dissolving. Can you give me the quickest route to clean all this up?”</p><p>“No, I can’t,” says Karen.</p><p>“You…can’t?” Peter is perplexed. Karen has never said that before. “What do you mean?”</p><p>“You turned off your GPS,” she explains. “I only recorded your starting location in the alley. Other than that, I don’t know where you’ve been tonight.”</p><p>Peter’s stomach sinks. “Oh, no,” he groans. “What am I going to do? I don’t know where I’ve been…”</p><p>Karen doesn’t answer. She must think his question is rhetorical.</p><p>“No, really, Karen,” he presses. “Do you have any idea what I should do?”</p><p>“Yes, Peter. I recommend you call Mr. Stark,” she answers helpfully.</p><p>“Gee thanks,” Peter mutters. But after another minute of trying and failing to come up with a better idea, he gives in. “OK, phone Mr. Stark please.”</p><p>“Pete!,” Tony greets when he picks up. “I see it’s Karen calling. Does that mean you went on patrol tonight?”</p><p>“Hey Mr. Stark,” Peter says. “Yeah, I went on patrol…“</p><p>“How did it go?”</p><p>“Well…“ Peter begins.</p><p>“What did you do?” asks Tony suspiciously.</p><p>“Uh…” </p><p>“That bad, huh?” says Tony. “Do I need to get my lawyers on the phone?”</p><p>“No, no, it’s nothing like that,” insists Peter. “It’s just, well, forgot to add dissolvent to my web fluid tonight.”</p><p>Tony lets out a surprised laugh at that. “Well, shit, kid. You’re not off to a great start as Canadian Spider-Man, are you?”</p><p>Peter can tell it’s just Tony’s usual light-hearted teasing, but he doesn’t feel like laughing right now. </p><p>“Do you need me to bring you some spare web dissolvent?” Tony asks.</p><p>“No, I’ve got a whole spray bottle for emergencies,” Peter says. He’s learned to bring extra with him in case he needs to let someone out of his webs quickly.</p><p>“Then what’s the problem? Can’t you just swing around and have it cleaned up in no time?”</p><p>“Well, remember how you suggested I turn off my GPS to learn the city?”</p><p>There’s a beat of silence, and then: “Oh, no. Don’t tell me. But you shot down my suggestion!” He starts to laugh again, and Peter is not amused.</p><p>“Did turning off your GPS work, at least?” Tony asks when his laughter dies down.</p><p>“Not really,” says Peter miserably. “I just sort of swung around looking for crimes, I hardly even paid attention to the streets…” He hears another snort of laughter at the other end of the line, and it suddenly makes him much more upset than he probably should be.</p><p>“Mr. Stark, could you please stop making fun of me?” he says desperately, his voice cracking a bit.</p><p>Tony’s demeanour changes immediately. “Aw, kid. I’m sorry. I was just teasing. Don’t worry, it’s gonna be fine.”</p><p>“What are we going to do?”</p><p>“Only thing we can do. Go around town together and try to figure out the places you went, so we can clean this up before morning. I’ll get my suit. Where are you?”</p><hr/><p>Peter perches on a nearby roof to await Tony’s arrival. While he waits, he uses the extra ingredients he brought in his backpack to make a fresh batch of web fluid (with dissolvent this time). He also had time to take his spare bottle of dissolvent and run back to the webs nearby that first alerted him that there was a problem.</p><p>Tony arrives in his Iron Man suit a short while later, landing on the roof beside Peter. He retracts his helmet and gives Peter a kind smile, possibly still feeling bad about upsetting him earlier with his teasing.</p><p>“Hey, kiddo. How’s it going?”</p><p>“Not bad,” Peter sighs. “Let’s just get this overwith.”</p><p>“Alright then, let’s do this. What do you remember about the places you’ve been?”</p><p>“Well, one of them was in Stanley Park.”</p><p>Tony scoffs. “Oh, that narrows it down. It’s only the largest urban park in North America. Do you remember anything else about where you were?”</p><p>Peter thinks a moment. “It was on one of the bike trails going through the park, near a road. Oh! I think it was near the aquarium. I was just swinging through the trees when I saw a cyclist stop to tie his shoe, and a cyclist going the other way stopped and tried to mug him.”</p><p>Tony’s eyebrows rise in surprise. “Really? A cyclist mugged another cyclist?” </p><p>Peter nods. “I thought it was pretty weird, too.”</p><p>“Huh.” Tony shrugs. “Alright then. Let’s go.”</p><p>Tony takes off in his suit, and Peter jumps off the roof and starts swinging westward down the street, following Tony’s lead.</p><hr/><p>Even with the aquarium as their landmark, it still takes a little while to find the spot where Peter webbed up the mugger cyclist. The park is pitch black now, so Tony flies above the trees, using the floodlight built in to the forearm of his suit to illuminate the ground, while Peter swings through the trees below trying to catch sight of the spot.</p><p>“There!” he shouts, pointing at a large tree beside a bike trail near where it intersects the road. The mugger is gone, taken in by the VPD after Karen called them about the incident, but there’s still a big patch of webs on the tree trunk where Peter left him. He lands beside it, followed by Tony, who retracts his nanotech suit into his arc reactor.</p><p>Peter pulls out his spray bottle of web dissolvent and sprays it all over his webs.</p><p>“That’s it?” asks Tony.</p><p>“That’s it,” confirms Peter. “It should dissolve normally now.”</p><p>“Ah, so this isn’t your first rodeo with non-dissolving web fluid, is it?”</p><p>“Not exactly,” says Peter, thinking again about the big ball in his closet in New York. He hopes May hasn’t tried to clean his closet while he’s been away.</p><p>“What brought you all the way out here for your patrol, anyway?” asks Tony. He looks up at the massive trees surrounding them. “Just couldn’t resist playing Tarzan?” </p><p>Peter shrugs and huffs a laugh. “I kind of thought I was heading north, not west. And when I got here, I figured I’d explore a bit, to see if Stanley Park was anything like Central Park. It’s definitely not,” he adds with another laugh.</p><p>“It’s definitely darker,” says Tony. “And you can’t hear the sounds of the city from here at all. Feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere.”</p><p>Before Peter can respond, his spidey sense suddenly starts tingling like crazy. There’s something big in the dark trees, and it’s heading straight toward them, <em> fast. </em></p><p>“Mr. Stark!” he shouts.</p><p>“What?” says Tony, who clearly can’t hear anything yet.</p><p>Peter doesn’t waste a second. He grabs Tony’s arm in one hand, and uses his other to shoot a web high into the trees. He jumps into the air with Tony in tow. At the last second, he sees a growling animal emerge from the trees and lunge at them. It misses them by inches.</p><p>They land on a large bough, Peter keeping tight hold of Tony’s arm in case Tony loses his balance.</p><p>“Oh my god, Mr. Stark, are you alright?” Peter asks frantically.</p><p>Tony looks more shaken than Peter has seen him in a long time. “Yeah, kid. Thanks to your quick thinking,” he pants. He rubs his left shoulder, which was surely jarred a bit by Peter suddenly yanking on his arm, and looks down. “What the hell was that?”</p><p>He’s answered by some loud barking and howling from directly below the tree.</p><p>“Oh. Coyote,” he says matter-of-factly, his fright starting to wear off. “They don’t usually attack humans so blatantly, though,” he adds. “It must be a mother with pups nearby.”</p><p>Suddenly there comes the sound of more movement in the dense underbrush of the forest, loud enough that they can hear it over the barking of the coyote. It sounds like something big and heavy.</p><p>Peter looks at Tony wide-eyed. “Uh, are there any bears in Stanley Park?”</p><p>There’s a low growl below them that doesn’t sound like a coyote at all.</p><p>“Let’s not find out,” Tony says with mock-cheerfulness, standing up and pressing his arc reactor to bring out his Iron Man suit. “How ’bout you fly with me until we’re out of here instead of swinging? I don’t want you too close to the ground.”</p><p>“That’s OK by me,” Peter agrees readily.</p><p>Tony wraps an arm around Peter’s middle and they take off together.</p><p>“So, where to next?” Tony asks once they're airborne.</p><hr/><p>A short while later, they arrive in Gastown, Peter (who Tony set down as soon as they returned to civilization) swinging between buildings behind Tony, following him to the parking lot he visited on patrol earlier in the evening. Peter managed to describe the street well enough for Tony to narrow down the location of the parking lot, and it doesn’t take them too long to find it.</p><p>Especially considering what a mess he left behind.</p><p>“Jesus kid, what happened here?” Tony exclaims, surveying the huge, tangled mass of webs in one corner of the empty lot, which is situated behind an old brick building.</p><p>“I don’t really know. It was this huge fight. Six guys just…punching the crap out of each other. I don’t even know if any of them were on the same side.”</p><p>Tony looks at him, and even though the face of his Iron Man helmet can’t change, Peter can somehow sense the mildly flabbergasted look Tony is giving him from under his helmet.</p><p>“First a guy jumps off a bike to mug another guy on a bike,” Tony says, “and now a group of random people just beating each other up? Did this kind of stuff happen in New York? Or is this one of Vancouver’s many quirks?”</p><p>“No, it happened a lot in New York, too,” says Peter.</p><p>“…Really? Do you ever find out why?”</p><p>Peter shrugs. “I’ve been doing this almost three years, Mr. Stark. I’ve learned not to ask questions. The answers rarely make sense.” He pulls out his dissolvent and starts spraying it over the webs.</p><p>Suddenly they jump at the sound of laughter from the dark doorway of the nearby building. They turn and see a middle-aged man stand up to get a better look at them.</p><p>“It’s you!” he says, pointing at Peter. “Ohh the cops are mad at you.”</p><p>“Me?” Peter is very confused. “What did I do?”</p><p>“Those webs of yours!” the man says, waving his finger at Peter’s hands. “You webbed up all those guys and the cops had to cut ‘em all loose. The webs stuck to everything. The guys getting arrested, the cops’ hair… One of the guys got bent over the hood to be handcuffed, and they couldn’t stand him up for five minutes, he was stuck so good!” The man is laughing so hard now that they can barely understand him. “That was the best entertainment I’ve had in a long while! Thanks for that, Spider-Man!” Beside Peter, Tony starts chuckling under his helmet.</p><p>“Oh no,” says Peter, not seeing the humour in it. “They’re gonna hate me.”</p><p>“Nah,” says Tony. “I’ll have Friday call the cops and explain it. And they’ll have a hilarious story to tell their friends now.”</p><p>“Hey, you there!” someone suddenly shouts from the street. They look over to see a police officer in a reflective vest riding toward them on a bicycle. The stranger turns to leave.</p><p>“Not you, Winston,” says the cop to the man. “You’re not in any trouble. In fact, you can be a witness.” He turns back to Tony and Peter. “You’re Iron Man, aren’t you? Tony Stark?” he asks Tony.</p><p>Tony retracts his helmet and smiles. “That I am. Pleasure to meet you,” he says in his best, well, ‘Tony’ voice.</p><p>“And this must be Spider-Man,” says the cop to Peter, who nods. “The Avengers on tour or something?”</p><p>“Something like that,” says Tony. “Is there a problem? We were just leaving.”</p><p>“Not yet, you’re not. You’ve got some explaining to do about those webs of yours,” he says to Peter. “I don’t remember New York cops mentioning how sticky they were in their tweets about you. I’ve got half a mind to bring you two in for questioning.”</p><p>Peter’s stomach lurches. How much trouble is he in?</p><p>“Ah,” begins Tony in a suave tone, directing the cop’s attention back to him. “I’m afraid I’m to blame for that little mix-up. It’s kind of a funny story. It’s highly classified information, but I think I can give you the highlights.”</p><p>The officer perks up at the words ‘highly classified’. Tony takes that as a cue to continue.</p><p>“And you see, what happened was, Spider-Man here is in town on a mission for the next couple months. Avengers business, top secret, y’know. And he very kindly decided to do some patrolling in your fair city during his downtime here.”</p><p>“Issat right?” asks the cop. “Well that’s real nice of you, Spider-Man. But that doesn’t explain these webs. My officers had a helluva time getting those perps into their vehicles.”</p><p>Behind him, Winston stifles another guffaw.</p><p>“Yes, I was just getting to that,” says Tony, who Peter can tell is trying to buy some time while he thinks up an excuse. He claps his hands together when an idea hits him. “Right! So like I said, Spider-Man is here on a mission, and before he left New York, I accidentally gave him some of the…” he leans in to say, confidentially, “<em> super </em> web fluid.”</p><p>“Super web fluid?” the cop asks, sounding very interested now. Behind him, Winston leans in closer to hear, too.</p><p>(Peter is glad he has his mask on. Not only for the anonymity, but also because he’s smiling like an idiot right now. This is looking like it actually might work.)</p><p>“Oh yeah,” confirms Tony. “It’s being developed by the Avengers as a way to take down <em> really </em> bad guys, non-lethally.”</p><p>“Ohhh,” says the cop, now thoroughly roped in (along with Winston). “Like those space aliens that came to New York that time?”</p><p>Tony’s lips press together for a moment and his eyes narrow, but then he just nods. “That’s right. But it’s still in the experimental stages. So you can see how bad it would be if word of this got out. That’s why Spider-Man and I are working to dissolve all this web fluid before morning. Right, Spider-Man?”</p><p>“Right!” says Peter. He pulls out his bottle of dissolvent and finishes spraying the mass of webs. He uses about twice as much as the webs need, and they begin dissolving immediately.</p><p>“See?” says Tony, turning back to the officer. “No harm, no foul. Can I count on you two to keep the super web fluid a secret?</p><p>Both of them nod, still staring at the webs dissolving before their eyes.</p><p>“Great! Well, we better be off,” says Tony. “Avengers business. Have a good night!” He starts to back away, and Peter follows his lead.</p><p>“You too,” says the cop cheerfully. “Come on, Winston.” He nods toward the street. “Buy ya a doughnut.”</p><p>Tony and Peter turn and take off into the night, the two men on the ground waving at them as they go.</p><hr/><p>“Where are we headed next?” Tony asks Peter through their comms as they head down Hastings St., Peter swinging on his webs and Tony flying above.</p><p>“Um, one of the muggers was at a skytrain station,” says Peter.</p><p>“You’re gonna have to be more specific than that, kid.”</p><p>“Uhh…”</p><p>Crap. Peter wasn’t paying attention when he stopped the guy from mugging that young teenager standing on the platform in a Tim Horton’s uniform earlier tonight. He doesn’t even remember which skytrain line the station was on.</p><p>“Oh wait!” He’s suddenly remembered something. “There was a big ball covered in lights nearby.”</p><p>“Aha,” says Tony. “Science World. That’s not far from here. Follow me.”</p><p>They round the corner at Main St., and Peter suddenly realizes that he knows where he is. This is the route he took to the station when he was on patrol earlier. Tony’s right, they’re not far now. </p><p>They land on the train platform a few minutes later, which is empty at this time of night, and Peter quickly finds the sticky patch of web fluid he used to web up the mugger. He sprays his dissolvent on it, and is about to turn to Tony to say ‘Well that was easy,’ when suddenly he remembers.</p><p>“Oh, no.”</p><p>“‘Oh no’ what?” asks Tony warily.</p><p>“I just remembered. The first time I tried to hit him with web fluid, I missed.”</p><p>“So?”</p><p>“Well, it hit a train…”</p><p>One of the hundreds and hundreds of trains that are currently snaking through the city (and beyond). It could be anywhere now.</p><p>Tony stares at Peter. His Iron Man helmet is still in place, but Peter could swear the expression on the helmet looks like a shocked Pikachu.</p><p>“Seriously, kid?” Tony asks, now sounding like he’s trying not to laugh. Peter nods. He does kind of see the humour in it, but he also remembers how angry that cop was. “Well, don’t sweat it,” Tony says. “If that’s the only one we miss, we’ll still have done a good job tonight. Don’t worry about it.”</p><p>Peter opens his mouth to argue, but closes it when he realizes Tony is right. There’s really nothing to be done about it now. He sighs.</p><p>“Alright,” he concedes. He tries to put it out of his mind as he thinks of where to go next. “I think there are only two places left. One was under a bridge. I stopped a car thief.”</p><p>“You’ll have to give me more to go on than that,” says Tony. “There’s a shitload of bridges in this town.”</p><p>Peter ponders a minute. “Oh, there was a basketball court under it. Actually,” he adds with a laugh, “I webbed the guy up behind the backboard of one of the hoops. He was really violent. Tried to stab me. Wait a second!” he shouts, as a memory from work hits him. “I think I remember the name of the bridge! I know I’ve heard it before.” </p><p>“Granville?” suggests Tony.</p><p>“No, it’s not that. It was a weird-sounding name.”</p><p>“Burrard?”</p><p>“Heh. That is a weird name,” chuckles Peter. “But that’s not it. It was more like…Kenny? Bambi?”</p><p>“Aha. Cambie, right?”</p><p>“Cambie! That’s it!” exclaims Peter.</p><p>“Let’s go.”</p><hr/><p>When they’re a block away from the bridge, Peter notices something amiss. There are vans and trucks parked along the streets, and barricades blocking the intersection nearest the bridge. He drops to the sidewalk and Tony joins him, and they slowly approach a woman in a reflective vest guarding one of the barricades. Her vest looks a lot like that cop’s vest did.</p><p>For one wild moment, Peter is convinced he’s caused something horrible to happen. Did the cops think the webs were some sort of toxic substance? Did they call in the Hazmat unit?? He starts to imagine himself on trial for public endangerment. They got lucky when they sweet-talked their way out of trouble with that first cop, they surely won’t be so lucky a second time, not if there’s a whole squad here. Are Canadian prisons anything like American ones? He just turned eighteen, he’ll be tried as an adult and—</p><p>“Sorry sirs, you can’t come through here while there’s filming going on,” says the woman, and Peter nearly faints with relief.</p><p>Which is quickly replaced by excitement. A movie set! He’s never seen one before.</p><p>“Uh. Hi,” says Tony, seemingly taken aback by the guard’s abruptness. It is true that most people who come face-to-face with Iron Man and Spider-Man don’t tend to react like that. He retracts his helmet. “Tony Stark, nice to meet you. And this is Spider-Man.”</p><p>“I know who you are,” she says. Then adds, more kindly, “It’s nice to meet you too. But I’ve got strict orders not to let anyone through here. I’m afraid you’ll have to come back in a few hours. Filming ends at dawn.”</p><p>“What’s the movie?” asks Peter excitedly, and the woman gives him a slight double-take. Probably because of how young he sounds. </p><p>“Hoops and Dreams,” she answers. “A basketball sci-fi movie starring Diane Lane.”</p><p>Tony quirks an eyebrow, and under his mask, Peter does too. Huh.</p><p>“Interesting genre,” says Tony flatly. Then his demeanor changes to the cool, Tony Stark persona the public is familiar with. “Here’s the thing. Spider-Man and I left something down there earlier tonight. It’s some new, experimental spider webs that I accidentally gave him before his patrol. It’s a long story, highly classified, but I think we can give you the highlights.”</p><p>Unlike the cop (and Winston) earlier, the guard is unimpressed. She shakes her head. “This is a closed set, Mr. Stark. No one gets in until filming stops. You’ll have to come back later.”</p><p>Peter expects Tony to keep arguing, but he just shrugs and looks at Peter. “Oh well, we tried. Come on, Spider-Man.” He gives Peter a significant look, and Peter takes the hint.</p><p>They bid goodbye to the guard and head back the way they came, Peter certain that Tony has another idea up his sleeve.</p><hr/><p>“Alright everyone, back to one!” shouts Clive, the screenwriter-director of <em> Hoops and Dreams </em>. “We’re running out of night here! We’ve only got time for two more takes before dawn, so let’s hustle, people!”</p><p>The big group of extras, dressed in a variety of sci-fi costumes from alien to robot to astronaut, shuffles back to their places beside the basketball court.</p><p>“Now remember!” Clive shouts, “Five seconds after I call action, you’ll all rush the court to celebrate, and remember to jump as high as you can. I want to be blown away by your energy! OK, ready? Roll sound! Roll film! And…action!”</p><p>Clive turns back to the camera monitor to watch. The crowd starts jumping up and down like they’re in a rave. After five seconds, they move onto the court as they continue to jump, dance, and generally go wild. This is perfect, Clive thinks. The energy is there, the chaos. Exactly how he wants this film to be. This is the shot!</p><p>Suddenly on the right-hand side of the monitor, two new figures appear. A guy in a red and gold robot costume and another in an alien spider costume. They look familiar to him but he can’t place them. The costume designer must have pitched these costumes to him at some point, and he just forgot. Well, they definitely fit in with the mood of the scene. He lets the take play out to see where it goes.</p><p>He watches as the red robot runs through the crowd, followed closely by the spider-alien. When they reach the other end of the basketball court, spider-alien jumps onto robot’s shoulders and launches into the air, landing directly on the basketball hoop. He reaches a hand to the back of the wooden backboard, holds it there a moment, then somersaults off the hoop and lands on the court, then disappears into the raving crowd along with the robot.</p><p>It’s wonderfully chaotic, and exactly that extra ‘something’ this scene was missing. It’s perfect. Perfect!</p><p>“Cut!” he shouts. “We got it! Well done, people! That’s a wrap!”</p><p>The crew and extras cheer.</p><hr/><p>Peter and Tony run from the set as fast as they can, heading down the pedestrian path beside False Creek. There are no buildings here for Peter to swing from, so Tony retracts his suit into its arc reactor and the two of them just keep running. They’re both giggling uncontrollably at what just happened.</p><p>Eventually, when they’re several blocks away, they slow to a walk, both panting hard and still letting out the occasional chuckle at the ridiculousness of their plan.</p><p>“I cannot believe that worked,” laughs Peter. “I was so sure the director would yell ‘cut’ and send those actors after us!”</p><p>“And I was sure it would be the opposite,” Tony replies. “Directors love crap like that. Some of the most iconic scenes in the movies were created when something unexpected happened. I don’t know if the director will use that take in the movie, but I was sure they wouldn’t yell cut and ruin what <em> could </em> be the best take they’ve gotten so far.”</p><p>They continue to walk for a while in comfortable silence down the pedestrian path beside False Creek. They’ve got a beautiful view of the lit up B.C. Place stadium on one side, and the giant, twinkling globe of Science World on the other. It looks even prettier through the haze of the light fog that has started to form.</p><p>“Any more webs to clean up?” Tony asks eventually.</p><p>“There’s just one more,” says Peter. He chuckles before adding, “It’s on the side of your building.”</p><p>Tony gives a mock-scandalous gasp. “That’s it, I’m turning you back in to that cop in Gastown.”</p><p>They turn off the river pathway and head back toward the streets of downtown. It’s very late out now, so the streets are practically deserted. It’s actually pretty peaceful. Peter recognizes the glow of the Stark Industries building in the distance.</p><p>They approach an overpass. Suddenly, the peaceful calm of the neighbourhood is disturbed by a screeching, rumbling sound coming from off in the distance. Peter realizes that it’s a skytrain, and it’s going to cross the overpass. He lets out a big yawn and looks up to watch the approaching train.</p><p>That’s when he sees it.</p><p>A big patch of webs, stuck conspicuously to the side of the second train car. It’s <em> the </em> train!</p><p>“Mr. Stark!” he exclaims. “Look! My webs!”</p><p>Tony looks up, but doesn’t react with excitement like Peter. “Huh, what are the odds? Maybe if we’d waited at that other station for a bit, we would have caught it after all—hey!”</p><p>Peter is seized by a sudden impulse. He shoots a web up at the overpass and jumps. The sound of Tony’s ‘You have got to be kidding me, kid!’ fades away as Peter flies into the air, timing his jump just right so that he swings up and over the tracks as the train arrives, landing on top of the roof. Down below, he sees Tony suit up to chase him, and then the train rounds a corner.</p><p>His plan is simple: climb down the side of the train, dissolve the webs, and hop off at the next station. No biggie. This isn’t his first time riding on top of a moving vehicle.</p><p>He easily reaches the car where his webs are stuck, pulls off his backpack, grabs the bottle of dissolvent, and pours it down over the webs. He sees them start dissolving instantly.</p><p>“Woo!” he shouts triumphantly. He did it! He got them all. He snakes back up to the top of the train, sets his backpack beside him, and settles in to wait for it to come to a stop.</p><p>The only problem is, as soon as he orients himself to face forward to enjoy the view, he’s faced with a solid brick wall dead ahead. Peter doesn’t have time to think or do anything except throw himself forward to lie flat on his stomach before the train enters the tunnel a split second later.</p><p>He feels his backpack get sucked away from where it was sitting beside him. <em> Shit. Lost another one. </em>He squeezes his eyes shut as the wind and the echo of the train roar in his ears, and mentally kicks himself. He knew that the skytrains all went underground when they reached downtown. That minor fact had just slipped his mind momentarily. Well, he’ll never forget it again now.</p><p>The train begins to slow to a stop at an underground station. As soon as he gets off, he’ll activate his comms and tell Tony where he is. Tony must be scared out of his mind for him.</p><p>He opens his eyes as the train rolls to a stop (Granville station, the sign says), and to his total surprise, there is Iron Man, casually leaning against a pillar waiting for him. He’s even holding his backpack!</p><p>“Lose something?” he teases, tossing Peter his bag when Peter hops off the train.</p><p>Peter catches it and looks at Tony in shock. “How did you get here so fast? And how did you get my backpack? I lost it in the tunnel!”</p><p>“You didn’t see me?” Tony laughs. “I was right behind the train the whole time. Damn backpack hit me in the face when it fell.”</p><p>“Oh. Sorry about that,” says Peter with a grin.</p><p>“Yeah, you really sound sorry under that Spidey mask,” Tony jokes, nudging him playfully with a gauntleted fist. “Come on,” he says, retracting his Iron Man suit once again.</p><p>They make their way out of the station and up to street level. The light fog from earlier is considerably thicker here in the city centre, creating halos around all the street lights and making the skyscrapers fade into a haze of nothingness as they stretch upward. It’s beautiful.</p><p>Suddenly Peter’s stomach growls loudly enough for Tony to hear it.</p><p>“Yeah, I bet you’re hungry,” Tony says. “This patrol of yours lasted almost twice as long as you meant it to.” He checks his watch. “It’s after four. There’s probably nothing open around here right now. You got any food at your apartment? I’ve got a car in the garage of the SI building, I could give you a lift—after you dissolve the webs on my building, that is.”</p><p>They reach an intersection and Peter looks up at the street signs. Granville and Georgia.</p><p><em> Hey, </em> he thinks to himself. <em> I know where we are! </em></p><p>“I’ve got a better idea!” he says aloud. “There’s an all-night bakery a few blocks away. A lady bought me a treat there earlier when I saved her from a mugger. Follow me, I know the way!”</p><hr/><p>Half an hour later, they’re sitting side-by-side on some lounge chairs on the rooftop garden of the Stark Industries building, a Nanaimo bar in one hand and a coffee in the other. Peter has changed out of his suit and is feeling truly relaxed for the first time all night.</p><p>Actually, for the first time in weeks.</p><p>Below them, the entire city is covered in a blanket of fog, with countless dark skyscrapers poking through. The lights underneath the fog remind Peter of how Christmas lights look when they’re covered in an inch of snow. Far off to the east, the sky is just beginning to grow light. Peter can just make out the shape of the southern Coast Mountain range silhouetted against the sky. He takes a bite of his Nanaimo bar and sighs with contentment.</p><p>“So then,” says Tony, “let’s see. Tonight we got chased by coyotes—and who knows what else lurking in that park—had to talk our way out of getting arrested by a starstruck cop on a bike, you nearly got decapitated in a train tunnel, and we may or may not have a cameo in a Diane Lane movie about basketball.”</p><p>“Sci-fi basketball,” Peter corrects.</p><p>“Sci-fi basketball,” Tony agrees with a laugh. “Damn, kid. If this is a typical patrol for you, I see now why you turned down my offer to join the Avengers. None of our missions has ever been quite this interesting.”</p><p>Peter laughs. “Honestly? This was pretty typical. Even the coyote part. There are a lot in Central Park, you know.”</p><p>“Huh. I did not know that,” Tony says, raising his eyebrows and taking another bite of his Nanaimo bar. “These are pretty good,” he says, looking at the treat. “I don’t think I’ve had one since ninety-three.” He takes a sip of coffee to wash it down, and looks out over the city.</p><p>“Y’know,” Peter says after a moment, “When I realized my mistake, I thought this was going to be the worst night ever. But it turned out to be the best night I’ve had since I got here.” His eyes sweep the beautiful cityscape before them. “I think I could get used to living here.”</p><p>“Yeah?” asks Tony, and Peter can hear relief beneath his deceptively casual tone. Tony must have been worried that he’d made a mistake encouraging Peter to take this summer job.</p><p>“Yeah,” he confirms. Then decides to try to articulate his feelings aloud. “I don’t know why I was afraid to go on patrol before, or do anything else fun here. I guess—I don’t know—it’s all just so different, and <em> weird. </em> This new job, going to college in the fall…everything is changing so fast. I guess I felt like if I started doing my normal stuff here, I’d be like—betraying New York or something. I know, it sounds stupid.”</p><p>“No, it doesn’t,” says Tony firmly. “It’s not stupid at all. I think I know what you mean.” He looks at Peter and gives him a sympathetic smile. “You’ve been through a lot in your life so far. More than some people go through in an entire lifetime. But the past few years have been pretty stable for you—all things considered. You and May somehow managed to adjust after a huge loss. You figured out how to be Spider-Man. We had our lab work for your internship, and you’d spend weekends at the compound. It wasn’t ‘normal’, but it was normal for you. A familiar routine. Of course you’d want to hang onto that. So a big change like this? It’s bound to make you hesitate about just jumping right in.”</p><p>Peter lets all that sink in. It makes perfect sense, he realizes. As odd as his life in New York was, it was what he’d been familiar with for years. Establishing a life here kind of feels like jumping into a swimming pool for the first time. It’s nerve-wracking at first, but he just needed someone to help him dip a toe in and get a feel for it. He’s grateful to Tony for giving him that push.</p><p>“I’m glad you understand,” he says. “I felt kind of stupid finding excuses not to patrol every day. Thanks for visiting, and for encouraging me to go out tonight.”</p><p>“Hey, I’m not leaving yet. I’m still here for another week, you know,” Tony replies. “My offer still stands about showing you around town this weekend.” He huffs a laugh. “Though after tonight, I’d say you probably won’t need much help. I think we hit every neighbourhood in town. Kinda made me feel a bit nostalgic for this place, too. Coyote notwithstanding.”</p><p>They sit in comfortable silence for a while and watch the sky gradually brighten. Peter lets out a long, deep yawn.</p><p>“I guess I should go home now and get a couple hours of sleep before work,” he says. He hates to say that—it’s so nice and tranquil up here that he’s loath to leave—but he’ll definitely regret it if he doesn’t get at least a bit of sleep before his work day starts.</p><p>“Oh, don’t worry about work,” says Tony. “I’m giving you the day off.”</p><p>“I can’t do that, Mr. Stark! I’d feel like such a slacker!”</p><p>“Uh, after the night we just had, ‘slacker’ is the last word I’d use to describe you, kid,” Tony replies. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell your boss. Something tells me she won’t argue the point.”</p><p>That suddenly reminds Peter that Tony has obligations too. “Oh, no, Mr. Stark, what about your meetings? Are you going to spend the whole day working after running around with me all night?” If Tony says yes, Peter decides, then he’s going to go to work too.</p><p>“Hell no,” Tony answers immediately. “I’ve just come down with a terrible case of jet lag. Those meetings are just gonna have to wait.” He doesn’t sound too sorry about it at all. Peter smiles with relief, feeling much better knowing he didn’t just ruin Mr. Stark’s day.</p><p>A bright light suddenly hits Peter in the eyes. A sliver of the sun has just appeared above the mountains, illuminating the city. Its rays light up the blanket of fog, making it look like he and Tony are floating above a churning, glowing lake. It feels like he’s been transported to another planet. Like…Bespin.</p><p>Far below, under the mist, his super hearing detects the first stirrings of early morning deliveries and shop owners greeting each other as the city slowly starts to wake up.</p><p>Yeah. He could get used to living here.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A couple things in this fic did actually happen to me lol. I got lost in Olympic Village despite following the map on my phone, and despite the streets being numbered, and ended up late for a job interview :0 . I have also been chased by a coyote before, though not in Stanley Park, and a Diane Lane movie filmed in my neighbourhood once. Oh and I LOVE me a good Nanaimo bar, but only the kind that isn’t too buttery. Anyway thank you for reading!!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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